Lysol

Gretchen Kriner <ostra921 [at] aol__com> writes

>...  I
>checked the Cons DistList archives for discussion of the use of
>Lysol and found a few articles from a few years back which seemed to
>suggest that Lysol could be used for treating mold, but as to the
>amount to use and manner of application, the discussion was varied.
>One contributor seemed to be against the use of Lysol altogether. I
>would like to hear current thoughts about the procedure the Arkansas
>library chose to carry out.

The alcohol in Lysol might act as an anti-bacterial agent.
Additionally, if you look at the label of a bottle of Lysol, you may
be surprised to find one of the active ingredients is Thymol, a
compound that has been used for years as an antifungal agent.  I'm
most familiar with its use in in paper conservation to prolong the
shelf-life of prepared wheat-starch paste.  It can be purchased in
crystalline form, and a few crystals added to fresh paste. As I
understand, though it may work well as a fungicide, many
conservators have stopped using it primarily due to concerns about
toxicity.  Additionally, Lysol probably has many other compounds in
it meant to improve its performance as a mouth wash that would
likely be detrimental to its use in treating library materials.

Thomas James Braun
Mellon Conservation Fellow
Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation
(WUDPAC)

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:43
                Distributed: Thursday, November 12, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-43-006
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